My 49th Year
Last year, I planned on doing charitable projects from June 2008 until June 2009. I turned 50 in June 2009. In gratitude
for reaching this milestone, I celebrated with a Year of Giving Generously. My friends and family members joined me in
acts of grace. They helped me gather books for Bookworm Angels. I hope that together we can do things that brighten
our world in some way every day. My original goal was to gather 6000 books for this wonderful organization. By June '09,
I had gathered almost 4000. People still ask whether I am collecting books, so I have decided to keep the project going
until I reach my goal. You may read about the details and the counts below.
for reaching this milestone, I celebrated with a Year of Giving Generously. My friends and family members joined me in
acts of grace. They helped me gather books for Bookworm Angels. I hope that together we can do things that brighten
our world in some way every day. My original goal was to gather 6000 books for this wonderful organization. By June '09,
I had gathered almost 4000. People still ask whether I am collecting books, so I have decided to keep the project going
until I reach my goal. You may read about the details and the counts below.
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June 2008 Click here to read more about my project for Bookworm Angels - a group that provides lending libraries to
Chicago Public Schools. I'd like to gather 6,000 books for this amazing organization.
July 2008 Current Number of Books Collected: 566. Only 5,434 to go! Many thanks to Bette, Bill, Cherry, George, Karen,
Kiki, Mary, and Pat for your generous donations of books! Each one of these kind people have given 3-25 books each.
Patty has encouraged her circle of friends/family and has gathered 72 books. The Frugal Muse bookstore in Darien has
most generously given 302 books! I personally have gathered 101 books, so I have gone beyond my initial personal goal
of 100 volumes. My new goal is 200. Come on, folks, join the fun! I'll keep you posted on the progress.
August 2008 This month, my friend Pat suggested I contact the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of
Elmhurst. They had their annual book sale this weekend. Their sale is a fund raiser for their organization. They use the
money they raise to provide scholarships. This group was very, very kind. They let me gather kids' books that weren't sold
at the end of the sale for my project. High school football players even helped us load boxes of books into Pat's van. The
AAUW gave us 858 books. Thank you, Elmhurst AAUW and Pat (for an excellent idea!). Pat herself gave 127 books.
Whoohoo! Gail gave 8 books to add to the pile. Denise gave a couple of books and made a monetary donation. I used
that cash to buy 25 more books. The total number of books collected to is up to 1616. It takes only 1500 to refresh a
school's library of lending books each year. We have exceeded that and are on our way ever closer to that goal of 6000.
I'm in awe of people and their enthusiasm for helping kids. 4384 books to go.
September 2008 My church, Westmont 1st United Methodist, included a shortened version of my first letter about this
project in their monthly newsletter. I have gotten a great response from our compassionate and generous congregation.
My friend Bill asked his friend Sue Wisthuff, owner of The Book Rack in Western Springs, whether she had any books to
donate. She gave him a bag of books! Cheryll went to her local used book store and bought a sack of 27 books. Karen
found a box of books at a church sale. Jenny gave me a bag of 21 books in great condition. I went to Borders and bought
three more new books. I went to our neighborhood garage sales and bought 38 almost new books. I keep remembering
books that I loved as a kid. When I see them, I get as many as I can. Pat gave me information on Sharing Connections.
Regina generously allowed me to go through their collection of kids' books. Marge, a retired teacher who volunteers there
helped me choose volumes that would be high interest for kids in this age level. I left with 142 books. Lisa and her family
had a garage sale. At the end, they had a box of 115 books left. They gave them all to Bookworm Angels. Whoohoo! Lisa
also gave me a bag of flash cards, textbooks and workbooks that I may be able to trade for some kids' books. At the end
of the month, Jan gave me bags of books that she has been given by people she knows. There were 144 in all! Thank
you all so very much! The total number of books collected is up to 2223. My goal of collecting enough books to start a
school's collection for Bookworm Angels doesn't seem so impossibly far away any more. If 3777 more books find their way
to my eager hands, I'll reach that goal! Ain't life grand? Mary suggested I create a flyer or brochure describing this project
so that she could give it to her Musikgarten parents. I made a postcard. If you'd like one, please let me know and I'll send
it to you.
October 2008 This month, I got a call from The Frugal Muse. They had another couple of boxes of books for me. I went
to pick them up and found that they'd been neatly boxed up. They also gave me some store credit for the bag of materials
that Lisa had given to me last month. I was able to buy five great books with the credit (bringing Lisa's family's total to
120). The Frugal Muse gave me 168 books that I could use for Bookworm Angels. Their total is 469 books donated.
Thanks so much to the staff there, especially Amanda. Lisa and Manuel gave me 7 new books, including a beautiful set of
the Anne of Green Gables books. Loretta brought me a bag of 16 books, including teen novels. Yay! This is an age group
that needs books most for this program. Kathy, a children's librarian, dropped off 71 used library books. These are great
because they've got hard covers and some have protective plastic covers as well. I know they'll be read often. She
mentioned this project to her friends and they opened their hearts. I picked up 111 books from her and that isn't even all
of the ones that she received! That's only what I could fit in my compact car. Aren't people amazingly generous? Pat gave
me two more books that look brand new. My college buddy Maryanne sent me 15 books from Minnesota as a belated
birthday gift. Wow! Her son has finished reading them and wanted to pass them along. Isn't that sweet? The new book
total is 2618. Magnificent! I'm almost halfway to my goal, folks. Can you believe it?
Jewel-Osco has finished their campaign for Bookworm Angels, but I will continue to give books until I reach my goal of
6,000 volumes. I spoke directly to Mindy Ferber of Bookworm Angels and she arranged for them to be picked up. I
counted and discovered I had over 400 books in my house and car! Keep em' coming, y'all!
November 2008 A new month has begun and I've already gotten another box from The Frugal Muse. I picked up a box of
77 books there. Loretta dropped off another bag of 16 books, including an entire set of the Little House books. Brilliant!
Ray and Jan gave a bag of a dozen books for younger readers. Jan used to be a teacher, so she knows what kids enjoy.
Eadie kindly gave another 16 books. Kathy and her friends put together 54 more books, mostly chapter books for older
kids. The book count is up to 2793. We have almost gathered enough books to replenish two schools' supplies for a year.
Whoohoo! Thank you all for your unbelievable support for this goal. Your spirit and enthusiasm are blessings for which I
am grateful.
December 2008 This month, I have devoted more time to other charitable projects. I performed in a benefit concert
where blankets for the homeless were gathered. A wonderful organization called "Brothers for Life" was begun by a 9-
year-old boy! He wanted to help the many homeless people that he and his family met while volunteering for the Pacific
Garden Mission. His goal is to collect 300,000 blankets eventually. Awesome! He is now 16 and his entire family helps his
cause. I've been knitting winter hats for our church's Warming Tree. We give winter hats, scarves, mittens and socks to a
group in Chicago that distributes them at Christmas time. I met a 7-year-old girl who makes bracelets to raise funds to
feed children. She is an inspiration. I got one book anonymously at church. The book count is at 2794. I haven't forgotten
my project for Book Worm Angels, I've simply been doing other volunteer tasks this month. Happy Holidays to one and all!
January 2009 A fresh new year has begun. I went over to my local library and bought ten used books to donate. I also
bought some new Madeleine L'Engle novels from Borders. She's one of my favorite authors. I received an anonymous
one at church. Kathy gave me another 49, mostly chapter books. Karen's co-worker gave a dozen storybooks that are
beautifully made and in perfect condition. Loretta bought two more brand new books. That brings the new total to 2868.
Great way to start the next six months of gathering. I'm almost halfway to my goal. Yay!
February 2009 This month, I bought some books from my library's used book section. Someone from my church gave two
books anonymously. Sweet way to celebrate St. Valentine's Day! That brings the new total to 2886. Thanks, unnamed
book fairy! The halfway point is ever closer. I have only four months left to reach my goal of 6,000 books.
March 2009 I was travelling around the country this month, so there wasn't a lot of time to collect books. I bought some
books from my library's used book section and the Indian Prairie Library's used book sale. I found 40 great chapter books
on the first day of the sale alone! They only cost $1/bag on the last day, so I got 42 more. That brings the new total to
2974. I am tantalizingly close to half my goal. The calendar tells me that I only have 2.5 months left to attract over 3000
books. If 30 of my friends and relatives each give about 100 books that would do it. Or if 300 people each gave 10, that
would be enough. Hmmm.
April 2009 It is no April Fool's joke! I hit the motherlode of used books today. At the end of August, I visited the
independent bookstore Anderson's Book Place in Downers Grove. One of their helpful workers suggested I speak to their
Children's Books person. I did. She gave me the number of Anderson's Book Fair. There they collect gently used books
from school kids in the area and make them available for charitable organizations. They gave me permission to look
through their books and take "whatever I wanted" for my project. How cool is that? I chose 285 books. Thank you, Sharon
and Steve, for helping me while I was there! Pat dropped off six books at my doorstep. Edie ordered 9 books from Amazon.
com and had them delivered to me. Sharon dropped off a bag of 48 chapter books. Sue gave me a complete set of Kit, An
American Girl books. Loretta and her family gave me a box of 24 chapter books. Bill and Pat gave me two more for young
kids. Zoe and Brad presented me with a huge box of 50 new books as an early birthday gift. Yippee! The count is up to
3404. Cheers to all of you! I have nine weeks to collect about 2600 more books.
May 2009 My oh my, there are such generous people out there. Donna gave me a box of 31 books from the Indian Prairie
Library. Pat shopped at Borders and found 5 new books as another early birthday present for me. Loretta's friends gave
45 for the cause. Jeff dropped off a bag of 17 volumes. May gave a box of 50 from her little girls. That bumps the total up
to 3552. It thrills me to report this ever-growing number of volumes.
June 2009 This was going to be the last month of my project. Jenny gave me a bag of 14. Kathy put in some cash and I
matched it. We bought 8 books with the money. Our Saviour's Lutheran Church generously let me go through books from
their garage sale and take 61 of them for free! Gloria gave me a book from her garage sale for nothing. Cathy combed
through a library book sale and bought 64 for the kids. Ginger put a sack of a dozen books at my door. Uncle Louie and
Charlie contributed money, with which I bought 33 books. I purchased 12 more books myself. Jim and family gave me a
box of 54. Bill and Pat gave me 7 more. Loretta came across a garage sale and delivered 87 to my door. I now have 3905
for those Chicago kids! Hazel and Loretta forwarded my appeal to their circles and I've gotten a great response. Will I
reach that ambitious goal of 6000? Let's see! So many people asked whether I'm continuing the collection that I have
decided to go until I reach my original goal.
July 2009 Pat gave me 4 books as part of my birthday gift. I traded in books that Loretta gave me at Frugal Muse and got
1 more using the credit. I also traded in four books of my own for three kids books. I bought 4 more there. Aubrey bought
some of her favorite Frog and Toad books, plus a few classics. Loretta got 11 fun books. Then, her friend Debbie went to
a garage sale and talked to the people about this project. She and Loretta gave 76 more to the cause. Drum roll, please.
The count is up to 4010! Whoohoo!
September 2009 Loretta gave me a 1 more chapter book, so the total is 4011. Now that school is back in session, it's a
great time to sort through our libraries at home for donations.
October 2009 This month, Zoe and Brad gave me two boxes of books that they collected during the summer. There were
64 books in all. Yay! An anonymous donor left me one book in my mailbox at church. Loretta got together 31 more gifts
for these Chicago kids. Edie sent me a sweet Halloween book that her friend's mother wrote. The lovely new total is 4108.
December 2009 An anonymous donor left me two books in my mailbox at church. The latest total is 4110.
January 2010 As the new year began, I received four books from Bill and Pat for the kids. I bought another chapter book.
The total is now 4115.
February 2010 This month, Bill and Pat bought three brand new chapter books. That brings the new total to 4118.
Thanks for your generous support, Bill and Pat!
March 2010 John and Jeff weeded through their childhood books and donated 28 excellent volumes to the cause!
Thanks, guys. These included favorites such as Encyclopedia Brown and some good novels. The total has now reached
4146. Yippee!
April/May 2010 Loretta's friend, Sherry Jo, got caught up in the spirit of this project. She gave a box of 47 books for
these young readers. What generosity! Loretta gave a child's version of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, one of
the books that inspired me to do this project. It is beautifully illustrated. I got excited and found ten more books at various
stores who were running specials on books for this age group. I am delighted to report that the latest total is 4204.
Chicago Public Schools. I'd like to gather 6,000 books for this amazing organization.
July 2008 Current Number of Books Collected: 566. Only 5,434 to go! Many thanks to Bette, Bill, Cherry, George, Karen,
Kiki, Mary, and Pat for your generous donations of books! Each one of these kind people have given 3-25 books each.
Patty has encouraged her circle of friends/family and has gathered 72 books. The Frugal Muse bookstore in Darien has
most generously given 302 books! I personally have gathered 101 books, so I have gone beyond my initial personal goal
of 100 volumes. My new goal is 200. Come on, folks, join the fun! I'll keep you posted on the progress.
August 2008 This month, my friend Pat suggested I contact the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of
Elmhurst. They had their annual book sale this weekend. Their sale is a fund raiser for their organization. They use the
money they raise to provide scholarships. This group was very, very kind. They let me gather kids' books that weren't sold
at the end of the sale for my project. High school football players even helped us load boxes of books into Pat's van. The
AAUW gave us 858 books. Thank you, Elmhurst AAUW and Pat (for an excellent idea!). Pat herself gave 127 books.
Whoohoo! Gail gave 8 books to add to the pile. Denise gave a couple of books and made a monetary donation. I used
that cash to buy 25 more books. The total number of books collected to is up to 1616. It takes only 1500 to refresh a
school's library of lending books each year. We have exceeded that and are on our way ever closer to that goal of 6000.
I'm in awe of people and their enthusiasm for helping kids. 4384 books to go.
September 2008 My church, Westmont 1st United Methodist, included a shortened version of my first letter about this
project in their monthly newsletter. I have gotten a great response from our compassionate and generous congregation.
My friend Bill asked his friend Sue Wisthuff, owner of The Book Rack in Western Springs, whether she had any books to
donate. She gave him a bag of books! Cheryll went to her local used book store and bought a sack of 27 books. Karen
found a box of books at a church sale. Jenny gave me a bag of 21 books in great condition. I went to Borders and bought
three more new books. I went to our neighborhood garage sales and bought 38 almost new books. I keep remembering
books that I loved as a kid. When I see them, I get as many as I can. Pat gave me information on Sharing Connections.
Regina generously allowed me to go through their collection of kids' books. Marge, a retired teacher who volunteers there
helped me choose volumes that would be high interest for kids in this age level. I left with 142 books. Lisa and her family
had a garage sale. At the end, they had a box of 115 books left. They gave them all to Bookworm Angels. Whoohoo! Lisa
also gave me a bag of flash cards, textbooks and workbooks that I may be able to trade for some kids' books. At the end
of the month, Jan gave me bags of books that she has been given by people she knows. There were 144 in all! Thank
you all so very much! The total number of books collected is up to 2223. My goal of collecting enough books to start a
school's collection for Bookworm Angels doesn't seem so impossibly far away any more. If 3777 more books find their way
to my eager hands, I'll reach that goal! Ain't life grand? Mary suggested I create a flyer or brochure describing this project
so that she could give it to her Musikgarten parents. I made a postcard. If you'd like one, please let me know and I'll send
it to you.
October 2008 This month, I got a call from The Frugal Muse. They had another couple of boxes of books for me. I went
to pick them up and found that they'd been neatly boxed up. They also gave me some store credit for the bag of materials
that Lisa had given to me last month. I was able to buy five great books with the credit (bringing Lisa's family's total to
120). The Frugal Muse gave me 168 books that I could use for Bookworm Angels. Their total is 469 books donated.
Thanks so much to the staff there, especially Amanda. Lisa and Manuel gave me 7 new books, including a beautiful set of
the Anne of Green Gables books. Loretta brought me a bag of 16 books, including teen novels. Yay! This is an age group
that needs books most for this program. Kathy, a children's librarian, dropped off 71 used library books. These are great
because they've got hard covers and some have protective plastic covers as well. I know they'll be read often. She
mentioned this project to her friends and they opened their hearts. I picked up 111 books from her and that isn't even all
of the ones that she received! That's only what I could fit in my compact car. Aren't people amazingly generous? Pat gave
me two more books that look brand new. My college buddy Maryanne sent me 15 books from Minnesota as a belated
birthday gift. Wow! Her son has finished reading them and wanted to pass them along. Isn't that sweet? The new book
total is 2618. Magnificent! I'm almost halfway to my goal, folks. Can you believe it?
Jewel-Osco has finished their campaign for Bookworm Angels, but I will continue to give books until I reach my goal of
6,000 volumes. I spoke directly to Mindy Ferber of Bookworm Angels and she arranged for them to be picked up. I
counted and discovered I had over 400 books in my house and car! Keep em' coming, y'all!
November 2008 A new month has begun and I've already gotten another box from The Frugal Muse. I picked up a box of
77 books there. Loretta dropped off another bag of 16 books, including an entire set of the Little House books. Brilliant!
Ray and Jan gave a bag of a dozen books for younger readers. Jan used to be a teacher, so she knows what kids enjoy.
Eadie kindly gave another 16 books. Kathy and her friends put together 54 more books, mostly chapter books for older
kids. The book count is up to 2793. We have almost gathered enough books to replenish two schools' supplies for a year.
Whoohoo! Thank you all for your unbelievable support for this goal. Your spirit and enthusiasm are blessings for which I
am grateful.
December 2008 This month, I have devoted more time to other charitable projects. I performed in a benefit concert
where blankets for the homeless were gathered. A wonderful organization called "Brothers for Life" was begun by a 9-
year-old boy! He wanted to help the many homeless people that he and his family met while volunteering for the Pacific
Garden Mission. His goal is to collect 300,000 blankets eventually. Awesome! He is now 16 and his entire family helps his
cause. I've been knitting winter hats for our church's Warming Tree. We give winter hats, scarves, mittens and socks to a
group in Chicago that distributes them at Christmas time. I met a 7-year-old girl who makes bracelets to raise funds to
feed children. She is an inspiration. I got one book anonymously at church. The book count is at 2794. I haven't forgotten
my project for Book Worm Angels, I've simply been doing other volunteer tasks this month. Happy Holidays to one and all!
January 2009 A fresh new year has begun. I went over to my local library and bought ten used books to donate. I also
bought some new Madeleine L'Engle novels from Borders. She's one of my favorite authors. I received an anonymous
one at church. Kathy gave me another 49, mostly chapter books. Karen's co-worker gave a dozen storybooks that are
beautifully made and in perfect condition. Loretta bought two more brand new books. That brings the new total to 2868.
Great way to start the next six months of gathering. I'm almost halfway to my goal. Yay!
February 2009 This month, I bought some books from my library's used book section. Someone from my church gave two
books anonymously. Sweet way to celebrate St. Valentine's Day! That brings the new total to 2886. Thanks, unnamed
book fairy! The halfway point is ever closer. I have only four months left to reach my goal of 6,000 books.
March 2009 I was travelling around the country this month, so there wasn't a lot of time to collect books. I bought some
books from my library's used book section and the Indian Prairie Library's used book sale. I found 40 great chapter books
on the first day of the sale alone! They only cost $1/bag on the last day, so I got 42 more. That brings the new total to
2974. I am tantalizingly close to half my goal. The calendar tells me that I only have 2.5 months left to attract over 3000
books. If 30 of my friends and relatives each give about 100 books that would do it. Or if 300 people each gave 10, that
would be enough. Hmmm.
April 2009 It is no April Fool's joke! I hit the motherlode of used books today. At the end of August, I visited the
independent bookstore Anderson's Book Place in Downers Grove. One of their helpful workers suggested I speak to their
Children's Books person. I did. She gave me the number of Anderson's Book Fair. There they collect gently used books
from school kids in the area and make them available for charitable organizations. They gave me permission to look
through their books and take "whatever I wanted" for my project. How cool is that? I chose 285 books. Thank you, Sharon
and Steve, for helping me while I was there! Pat dropped off six books at my doorstep. Edie ordered 9 books from Amazon.
com and had them delivered to me. Sharon dropped off a bag of 48 chapter books. Sue gave me a complete set of Kit, An
American Girl books. Loretta and her family gave me a box of 24 chapter books. Bill and Pat gave me two more for young
kids. Zoe and Brad presented me with a huge box of 50 new books as an early birthday gift. Yippee! The count is up to
3404. Cheers to all of you! I have nine weeks to collect about 2600 more books.
May 2009 My oh my, there are such generous people out there. Donna gave me a box of 31 books from the Indian Prairie
Library. Pat shopped at Borders and found 5 new books as another early birthday present for me. Loretta's friends gave
45 for the cause. Jeff dropped off a bag of 17 volumes. May gave a box of 50 from her little girls. That bumps the total up
to 3552. It thrills me to report this ever-growing number of volumes.
June 2009 This was going to be the last month of my project. Jenny gave me a bag of 14. Kathy put in some cash and I
matched it. We bought 8 books with the money. Our Saviour's Lutheran Church generously let me go through books from
their garage sale and take 61 of them for free! Gloria gave me a book from her garage sale for nothing. Cathy combed
through a library book sale and bought 64 for the kids. Ginger put a sack of a dozen books at my door. Uncle Louie and
Charlie contributed money, with which I bought 33 books. I purchased 12 more books myself. Jim and family gave me a
box of 54. Bill and Pat gave me 7 more. Loretta came across a garage sale and delivered 87 to my door. I now have 3905
for those Chicago kids! Hazel and Loretta forwarded my appeal to their circles and I've gotten a great response. Will I
reach that ambitious goal of 6000? Let's see! So many people asked whether I'm continuing the collection that I have
decided to go until I reach my original goal.
July 2009 Pat gave me 4 books as part of my birthday gift. I traded in books that Loretta gave me at Frugal Muse and got
1 more using the credit. I also traded in four books of my own for three kids books. I bought 4 more there. Aubrey bought
some of her favorite Frog and Toad books, plus a few classics. Loretta got 11 fun books. Then, her friend Debbie went to
a garage sale and talked to the people about this project. She and Loretta gave 76 more to the cause. Drum roll, please.
The count is up to 4010! Whoohoo!
September 2009 Loretta gave me a 1 more chapter book, so the total is 4011. Now that school is back in session, it's a
great time to sort through our libraries at home for donations.
October 2009 This month, Zoe and Brad gave me two boxes of books that they collected during the summer. There were
64 books in all. Yay! An anonymous donor left me one book in my mailbox at church. Loretta got together 31 more gifts
for these Chicago kids. Edie sent me a sweet Halloween book that her friend's mother wrote. The lovely new total is 4108.
December 2009 An anonymous donor left me two books in my mailbox at church. The latest total is 4110.
January 2010 As the new year began, I received four books from Bill and Pat for the kids. I bought another chapter book.
The total is now 4115.
February 2010 This month, Bill and Pat bought three brand new chapter books. That brings the new total to 4118.
Thanks for your generous support, Bill and Pat!
March 2010 John and Jeff weeded through their childhood books and donated 28 excellent volumes to the cause!
Thanks, guys. These included favorites such as Encyclopedia Brown and some good novels. The total has now reached
4146. Yippee!
April/May 2010 Loretta's friend, Sherry Jo, got caught up in the spirit of this project. She gave a box of 47 books for
these young readers. What generosity! Loretta gave a child's version of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, one of
the books that inspired me to do this project. It is beautifully illustrated. I got excited and found ten more books at various
stores who were running specials on books for this age group. I am delighted to report that the latest total is 4204.
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